?si=7AA2m_-CMlye7vj9
Be interesting to see where this goes, and how many manufacturers jump on board.
My feel is that a lot of established brands and their customers have already invested in their connection systems. But new upcoming brands may leverage the fact that starboard has already done the engineering around the connection system and they could advertise their system as modular and compatible with other brands .

Yeah naaaa. I can't see any of the major foils
brands taking this design route. Too many bolts and too many parts.

Also, I can't imagine a smaller brand taking this route. The male female wing to fuse connection requires much more expensive tooling than something like axis. There's a reason a lot of small brands piggyback on that system(and some bigger brands even prototype on it) - it's cheaper to make wings for

Is Starboard masts any good?

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motogon said..
Is Starboard masts any good?

Maybe? Nobody has ever ridden their foils so it's impossible to say! We may never know!

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TooMuchEpoxy said..
Also, I can't imagine a smaller brand taking this route. The male female wing to fuse connection requires much more expensive tooling than something like axis. There's a reason a lot of small brands piggyback on that system(and some bigger brands even prototype on it) - it's cheaper to make wings for

Agree, the three piece mold would need to be more complex and have a tighter tolerance band, which as you point out would be more expensive to manufacture, and operate.

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motogon said..
Is Starboard masts any good?

Some of the top windfoil racers are on them, and that generates higher loads than a foil board will ever produce so must work to some degree. Some top local guys like them for wind foiling, never seen anyone using them for wing foiling though.

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motogon said..
Is Starboard masts any good?

Oh dear

Yes, just a bit.

Cool idea, but it seems like a tough, long term sell. Every other brand would have to agree that's the best design and move to it and that seems a bit far fetched IMO.

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BWalnut said..
Cool idea, but it seems like a tough, long term sell. Every other brand would have to agree that's the best design and move to it and that seems a bit far fetched IMO.

Very hard sell indeed - unless it's mandated by EU (like the Type C USB) which is very unlikely. But it could happpen organically.

Mast base is pretty much standard now, so that is sorted.

And we could ask that everyone makes tail wing attachments 30mm, 6mm screws on flat. Then it's up to foil makers to choose if they want to make their tails reversible, KD tails and some AK tails are reversible on this set-up so that would solve the tail area.

Tail fuse connection shouldn't be too difficult to agree on: Max 2 screws 6mm and reversible with taper-lock - (AK has this) - just choose/design one and be done with it.

Front wing attachment: Many are going to integrated system, so no more screws between front foil and fuse. This also allows for more efficient design so I predict this will happen in any event.

Mast fuse to front integrated fuse and mast-connection is the most important one, and I'm pretty sure we haven't seen the best one yet, so this is the one that will be difficult to agree on.....